computers & electricity

[trixipaws]

do computers use a lot of electricity?

my boyf and i hav just received (after £160 gas bill last week) £120 electricity bill, which is a blahdy nuisance when we got a baby due anytime soon!

we looked at our previous 2 bills and in february it was £85 and in november it was £75. i was expecting it to be less than it was in those months coz we dont need lights on during the evening, etc.

so we tried to look at how we might be pissing away electricity. but we dont really use it unnecessarily, except for one thing: computers! we both guilty of leaving our computers on when were not using them, but surely they cant be the culprit! any ideas?!

 

[jenna]

when we used our PC more we had a bigger bill. Just put energy saving light bulbs in and just cut down on other things if you need your pc on for long periods of time.

 

[Redshoes]

That's quite a rise trixipaws, don't think it could be your PC alone Have you rang the comapny to query the amount? In colder months I'd say it's your heating and lighting but not at this time of year

 

[Nicola]

It depends. A laptop will use around 45 watts of electricty per hour but a desktop PC will use 140-333 watts per hour. It depends on the appliance really. Compare that usage to the 4 watts per hour an alarm clock might use or the 1500 watts a microwave uses, you'll know the wattage of your lightbulbs whether you use a 60w, 100w bulb etc a fridge might use 200-800 watts depending on it's size etc. In honesty a PC doesn't use that much in the house.

Have your energy prices increased? I know a few providers are advertising cuts in energy bills but it's worth checking out the rate you pay per watt and compairing it. Use something like www.uswitch.com and find out who (for your usage needs) will give you the best deal. Often duel fuel deals work out cheaper, i.e. having say gas and electricity from the same company. The USwitch site will ask you things like how many hours your at home for in the day, how many rooms you have, do you have the heating on constant or timer etc, what your current bills are and other things, if your including water comparrisons it might ask how many times a day you flush the loo or whether you leave the tap on while brushing your teeth. Either way it will give you a good indication of what your spending, where you might be able to save and who can quote you the cheapest.

Also you could think about paying your energy bills monthly by direct debit, say pay £60 per month for gas/electricity and in the summer months when you only use half that your account rolls into credit that goes towards the heavier winter bills....you'll get a statement about 3-4 times a year showing your credit/debit.